Protestant Theological Perspectives on the Contribution of Military Chaplains to Moral Formation

Abstract

Military chaplains are involved in the moral formation of military personnel. They have to do justice to the internal perspective on morality of their religion, while honouring the plurality of perspectives. The objective of this article is to examine how the contribution of military chaplains to the moral formation of military personnel can be substantiated from a Protestant theological perspective. We first discuss Tillich’s Protestant principle, which functions as a starting point and criterion in the moral discourse. We then show how Bonhoeffer combines a view of reality inspired by faith and a serviceable attitude towards reality. Finally, we focus on the role of theology and the role of the military chaplain as theologian in the moral formation of military personnel with the ideas of Volf and Croasmun. We conclude that Protestant theological perspectives on morality are vital to the moral formation of military personnel.